JD.com wants to innovate deliveries with an autonomous truck

China’s second-largest Ecommerce platform (top spot goes to Alibaba), and largest online retailer, JD.com, says it wants to innovate its delivery service. And the way it’s planning to do so is with an autonomous truck. The truck can, apparently, “identify traffic signals and sense obstacles from over 100 meters away.” A Sina news report claims that it can rearrange its route quick enough to avoid said obstacles thanks to a high-precision mapping and positioning system.

JD.com’s share price has appreciated by 53% so far this year

SOURCE: Yahoo Finance

This isn’t the first time JD has tried innovating its delivery service. The conditions in China mean that Ecommerce has more work to do in this final leg of the transaction. China is huge, and much of it is yet to be urbanized. As a result, many customers living outside the major cities may have to wait days for their parcels – or at least, they used to. Ecommerce in China moves quickly.

JD’s truck is the first autonomous vehicle designed specifically for deliveries in China, but it will not be the last. The company has already teamed up with Dongfeng Motor to “research and develop an unmanned light delivery van” to shore up its hands-free delivery options. As of yet, the company is not disclosing details over the new vehicle.

JD has also experimented with air deliveries, using a drone to deliver goods at “certain areas in China that allow drone operation.” But JD’s drones are no normal hobbyists fare – they are able to carry packages “weighing one ton or more” and could “realize long-distance deliveries.”

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